Tuesday, February 24, 2015

On what ended up being a mini date with my men. I’d gone over to meet him to have Bible Study with Bob and Yai and then plans fell through with them.

Jube’s first round at chop sticks. He was really good at it!

Havilah had a few more complications…

Hallah on a pizza outing.

This one is mine. See that map under his elbow. He thought we should put the map under the glass and no table cloth. So we did. But I do really like a table cloth, so we will see how long that lasts.

Hannah and Rennie

This one is cute.

Bilbo got sick. I took him to the veterinarian hoping she’d dispose of him because neither Hannah nor I had the guts to do it. The veterinarian checked him out and for not much I’m giving him an antibiotic instead. He’s getting chipper and sassy again. Only now when I approach the cage, he is apt to very pointedly turn his back on me.

It felt a little silly to me to take an animal to the doctor. But I couldn’t get beyond the idea that the “righteous man regards the life of his animal.” And that God sees the sparrows fall. So I decided, silly or not, I was going to take my birdie to the doctor. And silly or not, the medicine he’s getting probably cost more than he did originally. But I like my birdies. And animals in general. So, rather than feel silly about it, I have decided that I am who I am. I will take my birdies to the vet if I need to. So there.

It was very interesting to me to see Brie love on Bilbo while he wasn’t feeling so well. She’d just sit beside him and quietly feel sorry with him. Maybe I have something to learn here?

Monday, February 16, 2015

Hannah generally opens up the house and runs the fan when she comes down in the morning. This gets the house cool and later we close up but leave fans on as the morning wears on and it gets hot. Today it’s not heating up very fast. I let Jube turn the fan off because he was cold. Hey, it’s 66 F this morning! Some how I don’t think it’s going to get too hot today. Not at this rate. I might just need to go put some socks on.

Here’s a quick up date on our last week that I facebooked my mom, “Mom, we're doing fine. Rennie was just about to sleep when you zelloed so I didn't answer. We survived what must have been a mild form of food poisoning and that was our only bit of excitement this week. Thankfully the children didn't get it. Dru had a lighter load of homework this week. Hannah visited the Tiger Kingdom one day and me and the children did fine on our own. Rennie is getting chuckely and rolls over. He is nearly sixteen pounds. Jube is ready for 105 Learning to Read and doing well. Havilah still doesn't talk very clearly and she is starting to be naughtier. Jube has a huge incentive in front of him in the form of more Lego a as far as his be setting issue, and is trying really hard. Pray he doesn't get discouraged. We set the bar pretty high. Bilbo and Brie are sassy and the rabbit (whom I think the children call Nibbles) is getting fat. Oh, and fridge is fixed. And I didn't dump it out of the back of the truck even though he didn't tie it down. It just walked down the truck bed and I had to push it back several times. And today when I asked Havilah if she was making a snow angel on the floor she said she wanted to go back to America. She asks to go back periodically and it makes my gut wrench. So I think both of us are suffering from some homesickness for the States and family there. And Havilah has this weird cough that only happens at bed and nap time. She wakes up slightly croupy.”

Since then I’ve realized that Havilah has truly come down with some sort of cold/cough bug. It behooves me to be careful because once upon I time I ended up taking her in because her high fever wasn’t going away after three days. She ended up with something bad in her throat and needed a round of antibiotics. I prefer to avoid antibiotics.

I have been taking lots more pictures through out the week. I refuse to go on a guilt trip for the days I miss a picture. But I really am trying to keep the camera close to record the moments. Here are a few pictures now: This was up on my veranda last week. The roses are faded by now. The tiny sprouts in the lower left corner are rhubarb. I saved seeds from the rhubarb out behind Lance’s garage last summer. I wonder what it will do here? The little black pots are more zinnias and the top right is a plumeria finally deciding to leaf out. We cut the branch from the tree we planted at our old house and stuffed it in dirt and watered and watered. Now it has decided to finally grow.

Hallah said, “Take a picture of us, Mom.”

There are things you work on and work on in a child’s life. You try from many angles. Right now, this sits in the hutch where Jube can see it every day and remind him. I won’t say here what the issue is. He is five now and that much privacy now. Yes Adam, these are from you. Sometimes we put presents away to dig out for the children when we need or want them. I hope this is okay. (They were on a Christmas overload already when Mike came over.)

Dru brought this home from work for me.

My little scholar.

My little fatso. Turn your head to look at him. I forgot to rotate the picture. I think he looks Skrivseth across the eyes and he acts Skrivseth all around. What a whiner! He sits in his chair, not crying, just complaining. So we walk by, bend over a minute to talk to him, and he is all smiles and happy wiggles. Then you walk away and he continues with his complaining sounds.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

We had company on Saturday. Michael and Lia were up. Nice to have them in our home. Somebody thought to take a couple pictures, but I wish I had more.

Sunday evening Zach and Mary and Zoe (Yoder) were here. Very fun people to be with.

I have no picture of Monday. You don’t want one either. As Yoders walked out the door on Sunday evening, Havilah threw up. Sometime in the night Jube started. And I soon followed. Dru never did throw up but had stomach cramps and didn’t go to work. It was a bad day.

This is what Dru does late into the evening.

And this is what he does some more. What a dreadful mess in this room! It’s better though since Hannah took it in hand.

Havilah was sharing her strawberry with the rabbit, who isn’t sure if her name is Sharpie or Nibbles. Hannah thought it was unsanitary and I thought it was cute. We were both right, I think.

These two dishes, chicken dumplings and sour cream and onion baked potatoes, are not really something that should be served together. It’s a bit high in the carbs. But I was inspired to try some different things and I was happy with the outcomes.

I found this this morning. Not sure when he drew it, but it is apparently what happens when a minion gets hold of dynamite.